'Surf for Impact' Raises Nearly $40,000 for Adaptive Surfers

The 'Surf for Impact' competition raised funds for a surf program designed to support adaptive athletes who are pursuing surfing.

Surfers in the water / Unsplash

Voit Real Estate Services and Alkaline Advisors organized the 'Surf for Impact' event that took place in San Diego on Friday to raise funds for the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). The surf program through the Challenged Athletes Foundation aims to support adaptive surfers by providing gear and mentorship.

The CAF has been operating for 30 years and has the mission of providing opportunities for athletes with physical disabilities to live an active life through competitive sports and fitness.

According to Fox 5 San Diego, the event saw nearly 50 surfers. One participating surfer, Sarah Bettencourt, told the news source, "This fire, this passion reignites inside of me and I can adapt how I am doing this activity, I can adapt the equipment and more importantly, I can adapt my mindset to accept who I am now, and accept help and accomplish everything I want to do by just changing those few things."

Bettencourt, now retired, was serving in the United States Marine Corps when she received a life-changing diagnosis that ended her military career. The neurological disorder she was battling often causes motor skills to decline. As a surfer, this was dreadful news for Bettencourt. However, while working with the Challenged Athletes Foundation, she felt supported and was able to continue her adventures.

The co-founder of 'Surf for Impact,' Brian Fischer, stated, "San Diego is filled with such a tight-knit community of surfers and we found this might be the only city we could pull this off in and I think trying to change it up as far as philanthropic events go in commercial real estate, bring everyone together with a passion they love and sharing the money raised to help other people find that passion."

The 'Surf for Impact' event was deemed a success and raised nearly $40,000 for the Challenged Athletes Foundation.